Letter to the Philippians (Part Twelve)

Part Twelve of the New Testament Survey Series

Khen Lim



Caesarea Philippi (Image source: praisegate.com)

Incarcerated in a Roman prison for the first time, Paul’s letter to the Philippians is just one of four written behind bars and yet this is the very letter in which the apostle discovered much of what the imprisonment had revealed to him.

Firstly he admitted to have acquired a more advanced understanding of the Gospel (1:12-18). Then he declared that it is a Christian’s duty to suffer for Christ (1:27-30), to follow in the steps of Christ towards achieving humility (2:1-11) and to ‘work out’ their salvation (2:12-18).

As terrifying as Nero’s reign would have been, Paul’s letter showed very little of the fear or intimidation or just the simple notion of terror but rather, the reverse. Through verses like 1:4, 18, 25-26, 2:2, 28, 3:1, 4:1, 4 and 10, he actually shouted for joy. Paul relishes the glorious opportunity to suffer the humiliation that brings him closer to the Lord Jesus Christ (2:5-11). As a result, he declares and exalts Christ at the very point that the letter reaches its climax.

Paul uses his letter to the Philippians in helping his readers to understand the Christ in our lives, the Christ in our minds, the Christ as our goal and the Christ that is the epitome of our strength and joy in and through suffering. That word ‘suffering’ is put in the best context in this letter, which is why many consider it as an important resource guide to true suffering in and for Christ. And in all of that as well is the Christ-centeredness in which the letter is laid across four chapters as follows:

Christ, the Christian’s life	1:8-30
Christ, the Christian’s pattern	2:1-30
Christ, the object of the Christian’s faith, desire and expectation	3:1-21
Christ, the Christian’s strength	4:1-9

From the very beginning, in verse 1:1, Peter is identifiably the writer although Timothy may or may not have helped. Still, none of this means anything today as modern biblical scholars like to reinvent facts. To them, as you may suspect, Pauline authorship is not a given.

Today, debates continue to raise spurious claims of which one is that the letter is simply a composite of several correspondences stitched together. This claim is based on allegations that in one letter alone, Paul seems to change the subject matter quite quickly (3:1, 4:9).

What we ourselves fail to understand is how modern scholars are incapable of accepting that Paul can change subjects in response to his readers’ real and urgent needs at that time. In other words, Paul was simply reacting to what was troubling him as far as he understood of the situation in Philippi. This abruptness of style could also be evidence of informality on Paul’s part, suggesting that there is neither clarity nor specificity in theme by which we can categorise the letter. However we do see personal and pastoral touches here and there.

Epaphroditus with Paul in prison (Image source: dadsteachthebible.blogspot.com)

Paul’s personal touches are visible in the manner in which he keeps the Philippians abreast with his growing situation (1:12-26) as well as how he praised Timothy for the manner in which he prepared the way for his visit to Philippi (2:19-24). Other personal touches are his mentioning of Epaphroditus for the risks he assumed in caring for him (2:25-30) and his gratitude towards the Philippians for they had treated and accommodated his needs so fulsomely (4:14-18).

Paul’s pastoral style is evident in the way he lines up the outsiders (1:28-30) and false teachers (3:2-4, 18-19) in the church and confronts them. You can also see it in his grave concern over church unity (2:1-4, 4:2) and his personal desire for wholehearted service (1:27-2:18).

All in all, Paul speaks very generously about the Philippian Christians, which makes his praises of Timothy and Epaphroditus particularly remarkable. In fact he holds them all in very high regard. Verses 1:9-10 captures his gratefulness very well when he declares his desire for the day on which all of them may be pure and blameless before Christ. These are very big and glowing words indeed. This alone contrasts this to Paul’s other letters in which he would normally focus on church issues and how he wishes to remedy them.

Then there is the other authorship doubt revolving around the use of the word ‘hymn.’ Modern scholars therefore contend that this alone is proof that the writer isn’t Paul but someone else because the writing style is rhythmically dissimilar to anything else that the apostle had written up to that point.

However, a possible reason why this all sounds unlike Paul could be because the apostle might have actually quoted it from an unknown third-party source. Even if that were true, it does not take anything away from what is predominantly a typical Pauline framework. In the end, none of these claims make any sense and none are credible at any rate.

As to where exactly Paul wrote this letter from, much will depend on establishing the date but even so, being part of the Prison Epistle, we have a rough idea. If we believe that he wrote it while imprisoned, that would put it some thirty years after Christ’s ascension and about ten years after he preached for the first time in Philippi; all of which suggests a date around 61AD to 62AD. On the other hand, if we believe it wasn’t written behind bars, it could then be either Caesarea or Ephesus and that could push the date back by about a year.

Consensus, however, is overwhelming and that Paul did write this letter from his prison. The only remaining uncertainty is to pin down the actual prison. It is naturally tempting to assume Rome but it may be somewhere else. In verse 1:13, Paul describes his incarceration by mentioning the imperial guard. Then in verse 4:22, he talks about the “household of Caesar.”

Both of these can be misleading although unsurprisingly, many consider these as indefatigable proof of a typical Roman setting. That may be true but we must not exclude evidence in the Book of Acts in which we have details of Paul being imprisoned in Caesarea (Acts 23:35), a Palestinian city where a Roman governor is sited. In fact, let us also not forget that Philippi itself, northward of modern Greece, also had a pronounced Romanic atmosphere because those who were privileged to live there did so with Roman citizenship. Philippi was also a place where many former army officials of Roman legions resided quite comfortably.

So whether it is Rome, Caesarea or Philippi, it is hard to say which prison Paul had written this letter from. We do, however, know that Paul was never imprisoned in Philippi and that is not an option, which leaves us to choose between Rome and Caesarea.

If we go with the popular vote, then we must deal with the distance from Rome to Philippi. Philippi, being the destination of the letter, could be a touch too far for communication to be as easily facilitated as the letter might imply. If that is the case, then Rome cannot be it; instead, we might have to consider, by the most considered logic, Caesarea as the likelier option.

Timothy with Paul (Image source: biblicaljoy.wordpress.com)

Furthermore it might not be mentioned anywhere in the letter but Paul could have requested a carrier to take his letter to his intended audience. We know something vague about this person in verses 2:25-30 even if no names were offered. As a “wild” guess, perhaps it is Epaphroditus who so happened to be on his way back to Philippi at that opportune time. We do, however, know him from this text as Paul’s envoy of the Philippian and Colossian churches.

As for the readership, Paul meant the letter for “all the holy ones in Christ Jesus in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.” There isn’t much to read into this other than the back portion of the phrase in which he mentions “overseers and deacons.” He doesn’t do this often with his other letters (except 1 Tim 3 and Titus 3) but when he does, he mentions them in reference to the spiritual gift of leadership (as in Rom 12:8), the exercising of church authority (as in 1 Thess 5:12) and in relation to those who teach (as in Gal 6:6).

The fact that he bears mention here in this letter is interesting especially when these are leadership positions in the church at Philippi. We don’t, of course, know if these are the only two or there are more leadership helms in the church but all the same, why Paul specifically mentions overseers and deacons will remain an interesting mystery.

Perhaps Paul’s biggest lesson for Christians is this – learn to stare at adversity and still be happy. It’s an awfully hard lesson to swallow but it remains the most poignant reminder of Christ, whose promise of salvation is forever vindicated by His decision to assume the lowest and most humbling place and to die on the cross in the most humiliating fashion before the eyes of everyone.

And for that, Paul teaches us to rejoice as he rejoices in suffering in a dingy prison cell (2:18). He even regards his brothers and sisters in Philippi as his “joy and crown” (4:1) to whom he says, “rejoice in the Lord always, again, I say Rejoice” (4:4-7). Based on that fact alone, the incentive is for all of us to push on and work out our salvation in Christ (2:12-13).

Needless to say, it is difficult to fathom how a person so severely persecuted could still allow his joy to flourish unscathed, even blossoming through this letter. But then again, not all of us are like Paul. However we should not be frustrated at the impossibility of following in his footsteps. Instead we should draw inspiration in wanting to experience the same delight whenever we centre our thoughts on Christ (4:8).

 Part Thirteen (Letter to the Colossians) will be available on March 2 2016